Jennifer O'Donnell Photography » Weddings

Lindsay and Collin :: The Oregon Golf Club :: Portland Oregon Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:26:56 +0000

Lindsay and Collin were wed at the beautiful Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, admittedly one of my all time favorite wedding venues. The rich, deep oranges and chocolate browns of the flowers and brides maids dresses reflected the warms and joy of the day. Laughter, happy tears, silly dancing, and sweet declarations of love from family and friends made this day extra sweet. Here’s to many happy years together for Lindsay and Collin!

Happy New Year! :: Oregon & Washington Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:49:13 +0000

Last month I was honored to collaborate with La Fete Event Design on a New Year’s Eve themed inspiration shoot for the bridal blog Style Me Pretty. The details of this shoot were amazingly well thought out and many were DIY projects that Kara and Trista, the owners of La Fete, spent hours planning and creating. The result was nothing short of stunning. Our model, Diana Blakeslee, was so much fun to work with and, wow, does she have a million dollar smile or what? Her classic/vintage hairstyle was crafted by the uber-talented Ashley Rauch of AshleyCheri Stylist and makeup was flawlessly done by Kandi Smith of KSN Makeup. I highly recommend hiring any of these outstanding professionals to help make your wedding day as magical as it could possibly be! You certainly won’t regret it!

Here as some of my favorites from our collaboration. Our feature on Style Me Pretty can be found here.

Cheers to you and I hope to see your smiling faces in the New Year!

Miranda & Kyle :: Oregon & Washington Wedding Photographer

Jenny O'Donnell — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:41:45 +0000

As I looked back over my (neglected) blog, to my horror, I had not blogged one of my favorite engagement sessions! Miranda and Kyle met me in Pacific City, a sleepy little coastal town along the Oregon beach. It’s gorgeous there, but often socked in with dense fog. This day was no exception. The fog was so thick for a while that we couldn’t see more than 20 feet out into the ocean. Thankfully, by the time out evening session took place, the sun was setting and the fog dispersed. It was heavenly! Even the breeze was light, which, if you know the Oregon coast, you know how lucky we were! These two are both teachers who love to play scrabble so we incorporated these two things in with some bright red apples (for the teachers, of course) and an old scrabble game that used to be my parents’ and has been well loved. We laughed a lot, climbed some dunes and I even brought along my funky beach cruiser for some fun shots on the boardwalk. Ah, yes. One of my favorite sessions for sure. I cannot wait to photograph Miranda and Kyle’s wedding at Langdon Farms summer of 2012. It’s sure to be one of my favorite weddings to shoot too!

Lindsey and Matt :: The Oregon Golf Club :: Portland Oregon Wedding Photographer

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:36:04 +0000

Lindsey and Matt have been together forever! They’d dated upwards of 7 years by the time their stunning wedding at The Oregon Golf Club took place in late August. The wedding day was picture perfect. Warm, but not sweltering, the venue was amazing (as always), and the bride and groom were relaxed, joyful and completely head over heels in love. They were surrounded by long time friends, the groom’s sister and the bride’s two brothers as their wedding party, who all did an excellent job at keeping everyone laughing and the energy ignited. From the energetic dancing, heart felt speeches, a toast from the groom’s little nephew, and a silly photo-bombing golfer who randomly jumped into the groomsmen’s photos, the day was fabulous from start to finish. Here are just a few of my favorites from Lindsey and Matt’s day.

Venue: The Oregon Golf Club, West Linn, Oregon

Dress: Allure from AniA’s Bridal

Cake: Lamb’s Bakery

Flowers: GIGI Floral Design

DJ: Brian with Mobile Music Entertainment

Bridal hair by bride’s friend and makeup by bride’s sister-in-law.

Luke and Catherine :: Columbia River Gorge Wedding

Jenny O'Donnell — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:29:26 +0000

Luke and Catherine met on their first day of classes in college. They were drawn to one another. Luke’s eyes are sparkling and his calm demeanor draws you in. Catherine has an easy smile and an infectious laugh. They are both ambitious, and fun loving, and their friends would tell you they are truly amazing people to have in their lives. It was my honor to photograph their wedding day, one warm, late afternoon along the Columbia River in The Gorge in a tiny town called Rowena, just outside The Dalles. The sun was golden, the breeze cool right off the water, and the wind surfers kept us all entertained as they whizzed up and back on the rippling water. Here’s just a taste of Luke and Catherine’s beautiful day!

Carly and Craig : St. James Catholic Church & The Gerding Theater

Jenny O'Donnell — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:25:53 +0000

Carly and Craig are two of those people who are just made for one another. When you’re around them, they make you feel comfortable, right from the start. Their beautiful wedding day began at Saint James Church in downtown Vancouver. Carly and Craig opted to have a “first look” moment and see one another prior to their ceremony. This allowed them time for just the two of them to have a quiet moment together, as well as get the traditional, more formal photos completed so that family could go right from the ceremony to the reception. I highly recommend structuring your day this way. It cuts down on so much rushing about after the ceremony! After the first look, came the traditional Catholic mass ceremony followed by some time to take more photos in Portland’s Pearl District. The reception came next, held at The Gerding Theater in the Pearl. What an amazing venue! Congratulations to Carly and Craig on a stunning wedding day and best wishes for many more years of happiness together!

A special thank you to Jenifer Johnston Photography for being my right hand lady once again!

Joy and Thomas are Married (part 4 – “formals”) :: Maui, Destination Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:07:27 +0000

I put the word formals in quotation marks because, when push comes to shove, I am not the most formal of photographers. My approach is much more relaxed than the word formal implies. I do help to create a mood to these photos by suggesting angles of the head, arms, body stance, etc, but I in no means like to photograph anything that looks unnatural. I often hear from clients that what they see in their photos is THEM! Their true personality…quirks, sophistation, goofiness, sillyness, love…all of it that makes you YOU and what makes you both, as a couple, unique. These photos are no exception. My hope is that when Joy and Thomas look back on these images over the years, that they can remember who they were at this moment in their lives. The laughter, the knowing glances, the love. It’s all here for you to see.

Joy and Thomas are Married (part 3 – ceremony) :: Maui Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:12:04 +0000

In this installment (hee hee), Joy and Thomas opted not to see each other until Joy was walking down the aisle toward her future husband. She was escorted by her mom and dad and her dad also performed the ceremony since he is a deacon at their church! It was truly a family affair. There were happy tears, some laughter, and a lot of warmth. The perfect ceremony! Stay tuned for part 4 – coming soon!

Joy and Thomas are married (part 2-getting ready) :: Maui, Hawaii Destination Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:20:49 +0000

Joy got ready at her sister Shannon’s house just minutes from where the guys were cooking the pig. After we finished photographing the removal of the pig from the imu (see earlier post here), we went to Shannon’s to capture the ladies getting all glamed up. It was a relaxed morning. Poor Joy had a migraine. After a massage and some caffeine, Joy escaped to Fierce Salon and Day Spa in Wailuku, HI to have her hair done. She chose a soft, curled style and was done in record time! The stylist there was amazing! After hair, it was time for makeup and dressing. Joy’s beautiful sisters helped her into her dress while friends slipped her shoes and jewelry on. It was a busy, but mellow morning. We caravaned to the church right afterwards, where Joy’s dad performed the ceremony that would bind her to Thomas for life. <3 But the ceremony photos will come in the next post. Stay tuned!

Joy and Thomas are married (Part 1) :: Jennifer O’Donnell Photography, Maui Wedding Photography

Jenny O'Donnell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:06:06 +0000

This past week I had the honor of photographing Joy and Thomas’ wedding on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Wailuku, Hawaii to be exact. Joy and Thomas actually live on the Island, so the festivities were based around Hawaiian traditions, family and local customs…..all of which I absolutely LOVE! First up was the cooking of a pig in an underground oven called and imu. An imu is essentially an underground steam cooker. The pig is laid on a wire rack that is covered in banana leaves, burlap, and more leaves. Rocks are put into the stomach cavity to cook the insides. The pig is then covered in more leaves and burlap and put down into the freshly prepared pit in the ground and covered with hot rocks. The pig cooked all night, and the groom was up, watching to be certain that the steam kept rising from the imu, to ensure that it was staying hot. In the morning, I was there to photograph them taking the pig out of the imu. The groom and his family were there to dig it up, carry it to the trough and slide it out of the wire rack. They then worked quickly, pulling out the bones and chopping it up to make the fresh kalua (or what we “haole’s” commonly call “pulled pork”). It was super cool to watch this!